16-MAY-2009
Day 136 -Bikers
My daughter & I on the bike in front of my parent's store. My daughter is sporting her new pink jacket & gloves that we picked up at Rochester Motorsports (one of our destinations for today). The LX3 didn't do a good job with my Orange glow jacket. We were getting ready to leave and my mom wanted to snap a photo (from her cell phone). I always have the LX3 in my tank bag, so I decided to take one of us too. If you look in my sunglasses, you can see my mom's reflection in my left eye.
15-MAY-2009
Day 135 - In a row
Should have called this "Kill two birds". The baseball field that we had our practice on this evening is in the background. After practice, my son & I practiced pitching (Which was nice, I am his coach and want my team's parents to play catch with their kids and I don't usually have the time). On our way out of the parking lot, I caught these swings, I'd not noticed them before. The park was full of people and strange enough, no one was on the swing set. I had my tripod with me, a necessity for evening shooting. The swings were moving a bit, but not enough to cause too much distortion, helps with the Depth Of Field anyway ;-)
14-MAY-2009
Day 134 - Come back later
I wish there were some kind of hand-written sign in one of the windows with "Closed" or "Gone Fishing", that would have set more of the mood for this shot. I saw this out of the corner of my eye as we were coming back from my son's game (we got in two very wet innings tonight). I originally envisioned it as a Black & White, but 'settled' on the '300' Preset that I come back to from time to time. I like the subtle reflection off the wet asphalt.
13-MAY-2009
Day 133 - National Register of Historic Places
Plaque that sits in front of what is left of the old "Conway Junction Station" turntable. It is also known as "Brock's Crossing", though I don't know why. My oldest daughter & I did a report on this when she was in 2nd grade. This was my first experience with expectations of young children and school reports. I went a little overboard, learned my lesson, and backed way off after that. However, I did contact the Walker Transportation Collection (they have a lot of Boston & Maine stuff) and got a lot of photos and maps of the old station. This is just around the corner from our house, I'd always thought it was a jail until that research project. It's starting to get overgrown now, there is a swamp complete with swamp-related grasses and brush growing out of the center of it now.
12-MAY-2009
Day 132 - Velociraptors
My son has a dinosaur project due tomorrow. He had to make a dinosaur out of some kind of material, I'd been kicking around milk jugs or a cereal box (not literally kicking those items around) but never had the time. My wife saved the week by picking up some modeling clay. Our 11 year old helped him, hers is in the background (in focus) and his is the one in the foreground. I wish we had some beach sand, I could have spread some sand out on the wax paper to make it look like these guys have been uncovered in some sand dunes (I'd have to hide the toothpick though).
11-MAY-2009
Day 131 - Up close
We had a Cub Scout tour of the Counting House Museum in South Berwick today. While waiting for others to show up, we hung out around the falls. I'd never seen this particular angle before. I had to shoot through a fence, but with the zoom on, I was able to get a decent enough shot. This is the non-IS lens, handheld with a bunch of boys running around. It's not all that bad.
10-MAY-2009
Day 130 - Unused
While we had a great time at Battleship cove these past two days, it was a little sad to see the state of disrepair that all the ships (and Submarine) have fallen into. I am not a nautical person (I'm an Air Force dude) but I have to believe that the fact that these ships are sitting in the water cannot bode well for maintenance. The deck of the Battleship was pocked with rusted out railings and broken or missing boards (I almost turned my ankle twice simply walking on deck). This shot is on the Destroyer (I think the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.). It was on the side of one of the 5" gun turrets. I'm quite sure it is for spotting (the inside of the turret was closed off). What I originally saw was the spiderweb, while looking closer, I realized there was a windshield wiper as well, but it was so warped that it could not possibly help clear that window again.
09-MAY-2009
Day 129 - Jumping on the ship
We spent the evening on the USS Massachusetts at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. Hundreds of Cub Scouts flocked to the ship for an overnight stay. While I got a few OK shots of the ship (I left my 40D at home, decided it wasn't worth the effort), this is from a "jumping batch" that I really liked. My son was very impressed with the ghosting effect, at least in the camera review screen. I am a bit impressed at his ability to not only jump across the obstacles (which was technically forbidden) but to be able to turn and face camera in the air. So this is late in posting, but not in taking.
08-MAY-2009
Day 128 - Game Time
So I got a little "Photoshop Action" going on here. I have spent so much time in Lightroom the past year or so, that my Photoshop Skills basically suck now (not that they were that great before, but I could certainly fine my way around). This Polaroid treatment took about an hour plus, something that should have taken about 5 - 15 minutes normally. I wanted this shot to work out, but my daughter was not cooperating with me AND the UWA picked up some nasty flare from our light above our kitchen table (it is forward and above the lens).
07-MAY-2009
Day 127 - Riding Boots
These are my riding boots. Technically they are the last pair of combat boots that were issued to me just before getting out of the Air National Guard in '99. They sat unused for a number of years, waiting for just the right motorcycle to come along. I started using them last fall in September, they took a few days to break in (as opposed to a few hours back in boot camp) and took a few hours to get water resistant (bee's wax). They leak quite well in a steady downpour, but work good enough for me for now. A new pair of riding boots is not cheap. This shot was taken up and close with my UWA, the toe of the boot in the foreground is actually too close and thus soft. I'm shooting wide open too, so there is a narrow Depth of Field to begin with. I just noticed that the inside soles are a bit worn, most likely from dragging my feet a bit at stops and starts.
06-MAY-2009
Day 126 - Partial Kiwi
Another abstract attempt. I just got home from our game that ran a tad bit late. I really need to start packing the camera with me in the mornings, but I need just a bit more space on the bike first. I am holding the flash off-camera, above the glass & fruit. There is a distorted banana to the left.